Iceland Boycotts Israel – No More Israeli Goods In The Capital

A city from Iceland has recently taken a game-changing decision: from now on they will not allow any Israeli-made products in their city. Why? The answer could not be simpler.

Apparently, Reykjavik’s city capital took this decision last week. Seeing it as a symbolic gesture, this boycott allows them to protest against the way that Israel treats Palestinians.

Israeli Products No More

Several more concerns have been debated regarding Israel’s policies against Palestinians. An announcement made in July by Israel managed to spark fire among the two camps.

So, for Israel to build houses in the disputed West Bank was no good news.

At this point, there is nothing left to do.

As long as Israel continues to occupy Palestinian territories, the war is still on. Official announcements from Iceland did confirm this. They have now banned Israeli goods.

The message is clear. Iceland does support Palestinian’s rights to freedom and blames “the Israeli policy of apartheid” within the occupied Palestinian territories.

Of course, such settlements are illegal. So much that even the U.S. department started to express concern regarding the expansion of the Israeli side.

Some cities were also critical about this, and one of those is Reykjavik city. They have adopted resolutions in order to sustain Palestine’s right to independence and a sovereign nation. Also, they have purchased Israeli goods worth 6$ million, mostly as food and equipment.

Boycotting as an Issue

The government of Iceland said that the strike will only affect the capital of the country. In fact, attempts to distance themselves from the city council of Reykjavik did take place.

But, because Reykjavik is Iceland’s largest city and because it holds about half of the entire population, the government panicked. The decision to stop Israeli products on their territory could have an impact on its economy.

Is this possible?

Looking to previous data, throughout the years, it was revealed how much Israeli exports to Iceland weight. In 2014 for example, Israel has sent a total of $53.7 billion worth of goods to Iceland.

In the end, it seems that Israel is not as interested in the overall impact on the country, as much as it is about the symbolic message. As a matter of fact, they have been fighting against more than one boycott with the hope to change the way Israel treats Palestinian people. One, in particular, is the BDS movement.

Threats Towards Icelanders

Concerns about these movements have started to spread. This has lead Israel to take another decision: passing legislation so that activists and other organizations in the country could be removed.

The threat continues to grow. By trying to prevent future boycotts from happening, even BDS supporters are now receiving threats with their lives.

As if that wasn’t enough, Facebook is also also a supporter of Irael. They have now joined forces in order to prevent Israel from receiving hatred on social media.

Israel did not fail to respond to all the criticism received from Reykjavik. Minister of Israel Emmanuel Nahshon stated:

“A volcano of hatred is erupting out of the city council building in Reykjavik. Without any reason or justification, other than pure hatred, we hear calls to boycott Israel. We hope someone in Iceland comes to their senses and stops the blindness and the one-sidedness that is directed at Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.”

Even though, for some Icelanders this entire circus may seem as a violation of the Icelandic constitution, the ban against Israeli goods stands and will continue to do so.

We have to wait and see whether or not Israel decides to take actions against this scandal What do you think?